Eliza Dushku Reveals She Was a Drug Addict ‘For a Lot of Years’

Eliza Dushku has come clean about years spent under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and is urging kids to steer clear of addictive behavior.

The actress, most famous for roles in Bring It On and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, revealed at the Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness yesterday (March 7) in New Hampshire that she was a drug addict for several years, and even faced close brushes with death.

Eight-thousand teenagers attended the event, which aimed to shed light on the opioid crisis New Hampshire faces.

"Something a lot of people don’t know about me is that I am an alcoholic and I was a drug addict for a lot of years,” Dushku said. “You hear people say ‘I am that’ because I am that and I’m always going to be that but the difference between me and an alcoholic or a drug addict that still drinks and does drugs is that I am sober.”

Dushku said it wasn't until she realized how damaging drugs were that she was finally able to extract herself from their grip.

“I loved the first time I took a drug because I loved how it made me feel, I loved the way it made me not feel and I didn’t have to feel,” she said. “It was fun and I loved it until it wasn’t. Drugs didn’t love me, they didn’t love my family. They definitely didn’t love my friends that died, I have a lot of friends that are dead.”